Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1522936
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 JUNE 2024 4 INTERVIEW Michael Piccinino: 'We have sown the seed of hope' THE Nationalist Party's success in the Euro- pean Parliament election cannot be credited only to Roberta Metsola but to a "talented line up of candidates", Michael Piccinino believes. A week after the PN managed to reel back a vote gap of around 42,000 votes to 8,000, the party secretary general tells me the result was a team effort. "Other media were sending us questions on why we were not using Roberta Metsola enough in our campaigning. The result was achieved thanks to the talent in our line-up of candidates. What is for sure, is that the talent we had on our MEP ballot, needs to be repli- cated, and improved upon for the general elec- tion," he says. Piccinino sits down for this interview a week after the PN defied all newspaper poll predic- tions. "We worked to get the PN vote out. The night before the election, would I have pre- dicted that vote gap? I would not have quot- ed that number, but we had laid out our goals which were to halve the vote gap and to elect the third seat," he says. "Some people had not believed us and were saying we were overly ambitious, but we worked for it, and everyone was all hands on deck, and we were able to get that result." Piccinino believes the MEP election result gives people the belief that the PN is a realistic alternative to the Labour government. "With the result we have sown the seed of hope," he says. "If people fed up with the gov- ernment felt they could do nothing about it, now there is hope that change can happen." But the secretary general says the PN cannot take people's disgruntlement with Labour for granted. "Now our job is to continue nurturing that hope, and work towards convincing the thou- sands that are still out there who believe the country needs change […] Because people do not want Labour, it does not automatically mean they will switch to the PN," he says. With the European Commission recom- mending Malta phase out energy subsidies and the country facing excessive deficit procedure, Piccinino says government's weak economic policy is now catching up with it. "The debt the Robert Abela administration has accumulated in the past five years, is more than the previous 55 years combined. From Borg Olivier until Joseph Muscat, Malta ac- cumulated €5 billion in debt, while the Abela administration alone accumulated a further €5 billion. We have the problem because of Robert Abela and Clyde Caruana's economic policy," he says. I ask Piccinino about the party's financial credentials given it has not submitted its ac- counts for the past two years. "We have an obligation to get our house in order, and when it is not, that is a shortcom- ing. What is sure is that in the coming weeks and months, the accounts will be submitted, and when they are analysed, one will realise it was an administrative shortcoming, and not a legal one. You must appreciate the PN has its challenges when it comes to resources, and is- sues with finances," he tells me. With Bernard Grech having said in 2022 that the PN had a debt of €32 million, I ask Piccinino what has come of the situation. The figure has gone down, he says but refuses to disclose by how much. The information will be revealed in the coming weeks and months, he insists. With the PN having a history of secretary generals contesting the general election, I ask Piccinino whether he harbours any electoral ambitions. "I would be lying if I said no," he re- plies. "When and if that step is taken, depends on the needs of the party." A week after the Nationalist Party's surprise result in the European Parliament election, Secretary General Michael Piccinino sits down with Online Editor Karl Azzopardi to discuss the party's objectives for the general election, its finances and his personal political ambitions